GAMES LOST: 423 (all games through Dec. 14, plus New Year’s Day Winter Classic and All-Star Weekend).

SEEKING HELP: Federal mediators are entering the stalled NHL labor talks, hoping to help the sides reach a deal before the season is lost. George Cohen, director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, said Monday the parties had agreed to use the agency. He assigned three mediators to assist in negotiations — deputy director Scot Beckenbaugh, director of mediation services John Sweeney and Commissioner Guy Serota. Cohen has worked with the players’ associations for Major League Baseball, helping end the 1994-95 strike as an outside counsel, and the NBA. He was an adviser to the NHL players’ union before joining the FMCS three years ago. Cohen mediated during the 2010 negotiations in Major League Soccer and 2011 talks in the NFL and NBA, along with this year’s dispute between the NFL and its on-field officials.

WHAT WE MISSED: A light three-game schedule was lost on Monday night, including a visit by the Vancouver Canucks to New York to take on the Rangers in a rematch of the 1994 Stanley Cup finals. The Rangers outlasted the Canucks in seven games 18 years ago to claim the Cup for the first time since 1940.

ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: It was a rough night on the ice as injuries forced key players out of games. Edmonton left wing Taylor Hall, the No. 1 pick in the 2010 NHL draft, was knocked out of the Oilers’ game at Colorado because of a left shoulder injury. Hall was injured in the first period and didn’t come out to the bench for the start of the second. The Dallas Stars lost goalie Kari Lehtonen to a right knee injury early in their game at Phoenix. Lehtonen went down about 5:30 into the first period when Coyotes defenseman Derek Morris’ slap shot struck him on the right knee just above the goalie pad. Lehtonen was helped off the ice, went to the locker room, and didn’t return.